I once read a letter to the editor taking offense at people who have taken Christ out of Christmas by having shortened the reference to Xmas. While most clergy know that the X in Greek was the first letter for Christ and that the symbol was well known in early Christianity, I was most interested in a response made by a scientist. He wrote that in his world the X was always the unknown factor in an equation. He went on to say that for him Christ was always the “unknown factor” in the equation of life. He had learned to trust Christ but never presume to understand that he fully understood Christ. At the same time, he understood that it was Christ who completed the equation.

- Steve McCutchan, in The Immediate Word online sermon resource for 12/16/07